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Writer's pictureMax Seifert

Help! I Can't Train My Dog Because They Won't Eat

If you’ve tried training your dog, I’m sure people have told you to train your dog using treats. But what do you do if the dog doesn’t want to eat?


As a force free trainer, I avoid using corrections when training. So, I have to rely on some sort of good thing to reward the dog. For most dogs, that’s food. However, there are plenty of ways to reward a dog if food doesn’t work- and ways to make the food more valuable so they do eat it.


When it comes to rewarding without food, an important thing to remember about training is that we don’t decide what the dog thinks is rewarding- the dog does. So if the dog finds play more rewarding than food? No biggie, I can work with it. Some breeds really love retrieving, and I can use that as a reward. Border collies tend to love engaging in frisbee games, so I can use that when they’ve done something well. Other breeds really love to tug, and I can use that, too. The list goes on and on.


Clearly, this dog finds a good game of fetch reinforcing


Praise can also be a huge motivator, depending on the dog.


The thing that makes food easy to reward with is that it is a primary reinforcer- that is, the dog needs food to survive. The dog doesn’t need praise or play to survive, although those both fulfill other needs in the hierarchy.


Now, what if the dog will only take some treats, but not others? We can use something called the Premack Principle. The Premack Principle states that more probable behaviors will reinforce less probable behaviors. In human speak, that means, “Eat your dinner before you eat your dessert.” You might feel pretty neutral about your dinner, but eating your dinner is reinforcing because you only get your dessert after dinner.


Yeah, I'd find that pretty reinforcing


We can apply this to training by identifying the lower likelihood behavior- in this case, eating lower-value treats, and reinforce it with a higher likelihood behavior, like eating a hotdog. In practice, this looks like feeding the dog some kibble, then rewarding with some hotdog. Rinse and repeat.


In many cases, not wanting to take treats is a sign of discomfort- Assuming the dog gets a clean bill of health from a vet, if a dog is refusing to eat, they’re probably really emotionally uncomfortable in that situation. In that case, you might need to take some steps back from the situation and lower the dog’s stress until they’re reliably taking food again. If this is the case, I recommend speaking with a trainer who can help you to understand your dog’s stressors.


If you’re facing this kind of issue, reach out to us! We offer training for all kinds of dogs, and focus on fearful dogs. We have a track record of improving dogs’ confidence.


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